


Damaged Flight

by Kei_LS



Category: DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Expectation of death, F/M, I still don't know, Jason and Kory aren't so cool with this plan, Jason's hurt in a bad way, Kissing, Kory or Kori?, Kory's not doing great either, M/M, Other, Roy plays decoy, Vague and poorly written fight things, just copied and pasted, not edited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 05:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6941545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kei_LS/pseuds/Kei_LS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be a simple job getting rid of a new gang. Except no one said they had giant indestructible robots. And they’re considerable more organized than anyone thought. Roy’s pretty sure they’re going to die. He’s positive he’s not going to let that happen. Plan time it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Damaged Flight

_Useless_.

“Jay! Jay, I need to hear you, man, c’mon, c’mon don’t go dark on me. Jason open your eyes. _Jason!_ ”

_Weak._

“Kory’s on her way, I swear, but you _need to talk to me_.”

_Pathetic._

“ _Please_!”

 _Worthless_.

Roy flinches and spins on reflex, arrow knocked and aimed just in time to see Kory crash through the wall, jumping and skidding over rubble before rolling to a stop a few feet away. It reminds him of a rock skipping over water, and he shoves the comparison away roughly because that’s _Kory_ so kindly shut the fuck up.

_Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk. Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk._

Roy’s breath catches in his throat and he can hear it. The mechanical monstrosity that started this whole thing is coming closer. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, he thinks frantically even as he gently props Jason against one of the metal containers lining the warehouse walls. He’s moving quickly but toeing the line of shadows that separate him from them. He reaches her in time to see one of the metal claws appear at the edge of the gaping hole and drags her back as fast as he can; wincing as he does so because he knows it has to hurt. He doesn’t stop until he’s reached Jason and by that time Kory’s recovered enough to shake her head and sit up under her own power.

“Sorry,” he whispers, because he can see her gingerly grasp her arm and push it hard against her side where she’s bleeding, and he knows that he only made what was hopefully a really bad sprain but probably a few broken bones that much worse. She gives him an aggravated look but then her attention has switched to where she was lying a few minutes ago so he hopes he’s been forgiven.

“Jason?” she asks quietly.

 _Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk_.

They both wince and Roy bits his lip hard enough to feel blood. It’s his first real injury of the night and he hates himself for it for just a moment before he shoves that thought down too. They don’t have time for this self-pity shit.

“He’s not responding.” On cue, because Jason is reliable like that, he groans softly and chokes a bit before turning his head to the side and spitting out blood. His helmet was cracked open earlier on by the giant _thing_ slowly tracking them. If Kory hadn’t been there, Roy’s pretty sure he’d have been forced to watch Jason’s head slowly get crushed.

“Where?” Jason croaks. His throat his wrecked, worked raw and he swallows reflexively and winces every time. Roy’s fingers twitch to help him but really, what’s he gonna do?

“We’re in a side room off of the main warehouse. You were right, by the way, that thing doesn’t have a heat seeker and its sensors really aren’t the best. It’s basically blind in the dark.” Roy answers quickly, because he can see Jason tense and that’s not going to do him anymore favors either.

“Prototype,” Kory says grimly and Roy nods even though he doesn’t need to.

_Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk._

Jason hisses softly and tries to get up, biting through his already bloody lip when he doesn’t make it and collapses back. Roy moves to catch him but Kory is already there, holding him carefully. Roy’s hands clench into fists and he lowers them slowly. Jason’s hurt in a bad way, his armor soaked through with blood and his left arm cut open and his right leg gashed deeply. Roy had managed to stop the bleeding on that one but barely and he was pretty sure Jason moving had made it worse.

 _Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk_.

It’s getting closer and Roy can feel fear and rage twist and burn just under his skin as he looks at the two of them. Jason’s barely keeping his head up and eyes open, resting back on Kory whose good arm is wrapped firmly around his stomach. She looks exhausted and worried and there’s a sick kind of resignation that’s starting to appear in the lines of her mouth, and the same kind of sick expectation that’s always lurking in Jason’s eyes is hidden only by the fog of pain that’s clouding everything about him right now. They’re not expecting to survive this.

 _Pointless_.

Kory’s always going to fight to the end, too stubborn and determined and always the warrior first that will refuse to give up or in, but that doesn’t cloud her judgment. She’ll fight, but she’ll die. And Jason, who’s been there and done that and has just been waiting for the day he’s forced to go back, is just as aware of it. There’s a soft, pained sad smile twisting his lips that Roy always pretends he can’t see because Jason only ever wears it when he’s looking at the two of them like he can’t believe his life but he’s taking it anyway.

_Not this time._

“Okay, Kory, we need to get out of here.” Roy says, voice steady even with his heart beating erratically. Her attention shifts to him slowly and he gives her his best grin, proud he can tell that it doesn’t even waver at the edges. _Guess it’s true what they say about practice_. “I need you to get Jason, I can’t carry him without jostling him badly, and you’re still strong enough for that. There’s an exit back that way, I can cover for you but you need to move and fast.”

_I need you out of here. I need you both to be okay._

“Roy?”

 _Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk_.

“Kory, please, you need to take him and move out _now_. I’m going to need time.” He’s careful to keep the fear out of his voice, the _heartbreak_ , and Jason’s head slowly comes up. There’s an unsettling stillness in him, and he can see Jason thinking through the pain, clinical and assessing. There’s a strange sense of panic welling within Roy, he can feel his throat clenching and he knows that if they don’t move Jason’s going to put it together and then there will be a fight they don’t have time for.

He’d rather die alone so that they can live, than die together so that they can’t. Jason would never let him make that choice easy.

 _Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk_.

“Roy, what – ” Jason breaks off, hacking wet coughs wracking his body and making him shake and he gives Kory a look. She’s torn, hurt and angry, and Roy hates this. Hates that he’s doing this to them, for them, because even though they’re all he has he _knows_ that they think he’s all they have. And…and he can’t exactly prove that’s not true but this isn’t the situation for that.

 _It’s never the situation for that_.

He doesn’t want to hurt them. But he has to save them. He can’t afford to do less.

 _Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk_.

“ _Just go,”_ he hisses, the words sharp and hard. “You need to get clear.”

“You’ll be behind us.” Kory says, demanding where her eyes are pleading. Jason jerks, twists wildly and shoots him a glare and Roy’s tenses because _he knows_ but now isn’t the time. Roy smirks, confident and assured, nods and gives a sloppy salute.

“You know it.”

“ _Right_ behind us,” Jason growls, voice hoarse and Roy’s hand twitches before he nods and brushes back dark bloody bangs. He doesn’t bother to tell himself it’ll be the last touch, just memorizes the feel of sweat and skin as he brushes his palm down Jason’s cheek and memorizes the way Kory looks, beautiful and strong and firm even bruised and banged up as she is. The firm line of her lips is hard and determined now that she has a plan. They’ll get out, no matter what. Roy nods, doesn’t promise with words because…

 _Clunk-hiss-zzt-clunk_.

“Go.”

They move, and Roy wishes he could watch them to _make sure_ but there are things he needs to do so he moves. He hasn’t been hurt, so he’s the first to move, explosive arrows that he already knows aren’t going to do much of anything landing in a perfect line up its body. It’s wobbling unsteadily but Roy’s seen enough not to take it to heart or get his hopes up. He just has to be a nuisance long enough for them to get away. And then…

He hears the high wine of a weapon charge and he dives just as a motherfucking _laser_ burns past him and into the ground. “Well shit,” he mutters, rolling quickly to his feet and running forward.

“ _Roy!_ ” Kory yells and he skids to a stop, letting another arrow fly and scrambling up the crates that scatter the place to get higher.

“Go!” He screams, because she shouldn’t still fucking be here. The machine turns, faster than it’s moved since they’ve seen it and crashes into the crates he’s barely standing on. He’s falling before he even comprehends his ground has shifted and then he’s rolling because _oh shit metal claw oh fuck_ and then he can’t roll anymore and his arm is oddly cold and then…

Gleaming red and a high whine and an odd sort of heat over his stomach and then…

A scream from somewhere that sounds like Kory and that’s bad, but it’s far away which means it’s not quite here and that’s good, and then…

A soft beeping noise and he can see one of Jason’s special mechanical abominations stuck to the arm and then…

And then….

_I love you guys._

* * *

 

_~'~,~'~_

* * *

 

“I’m going to kill you.”

_Well…that’s not nice._

“I swear to God Roy, I’m going to fucking _murder_ you.”

_Kind of rude, don’t you think?_

“Wake up, you son of a _bitch_.”

_I don’t see how…wake up?_

“ _Please_ , Roy…just…just open your eyes.”

_Is…is that?_

“Don’t-don’t do this man. Don’t go dark on me. I need you to open your eyes.”

_Why are you…? Hey…_

“Please? Roy everything’s going to be okay. You-you did it man, just…please? _Please?_ ”

* * *

 

_~'~,~'~_

* * *

 

Roy opens his eyes and his first thought is _Jason_ and then _Ow_ and then _What?_

He thinks for first thoughts they’re surprisingly coherent. And a pretty damn good summary, all things considered. He’s careful when he turns his head and his breath hitches because that’s Jason slumped over his bed looking – not as dead as he probably should be, Roy realizes as he peers closer. He’s sleeping restlessly, and there’s a death grip on the sheets right by Roy’s hand, and there’s a little wrinkle in Jason’s forehead that Roy wants to smooth away with his thumb.

So he does, because he’s pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the laser heating up over his stomach, which basically means he’s dead. Which…sucks, yeah, but he knows Kory got Jason out so if he gets a version of Jason to himself then…hey, what the hell.

Jason blinks awake tiredly, and there’s an odd new scar peeking out of his hairline and Roy supposes that makes sense since the last time he saw it there was blood. He smiles down at the confused-hopeful expression Jason is giving him, mostly because it’s adorable and if he doesn’t smile he might cry because Jason would never look that open which means Roy’s really actually dead.

“Hey, Jaybird,” he greets and Christ his throat burns and that doesn’t seem fair but maybe it’s punishment for what he’s sure are a pair of depressed and furious fighters _still alive_. Jason jerks up, reaches out for him with a shaking hand and Roy huffs, grabbing it gently. It’s oddly warm, and for a second Roy seriously considers that this isn’t some weird after-life thing before he dismisses it. He’s careful to avoid checking for a pulse point. He’d rather stay in limbo.

“You…” Roy tenses, because Jason looks like he’s going to _cry_ and that’s never something Roy will ever want.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he croaks. And just like that, Jason looks furious, the sheets sliding and Roy’s hand aching as Jason’s hands clench and his arms shake.

“It’s okay,” he repeats softly, dead quiet. “Why is it okay, Roy?” he asks. Roy hesitates, pinned by the dark carefully blank blue-green of Jason’s eyes. “How is this okay?”

“You…” Roy swallows, steels himself because he’s not _wrong_ and _no one_ is going to make him think so. Not Ghost Jason, and not anyone else. “You and Kory are alive. So everything is okay.” Jason doesn’t seem to have anything to say to that, but he looks a little wrecked so Roy tugs until Jason is close enough that he can hug gently. “Everything is okay.”

“And you?” He looks toward the door, surprised and unbelievably happy because Kory’s standing there looking perfect and beautiful and stronger than she ever has which means she’s okay too.

“What about me?” Jason makes a wounded noise, punches the bed, and then crawls onto it and curls around Roy and buries his face in Roy’s neck. Kory’s lips purse and she looks unhappy but she’s gentle when she comes forward and runs her fingers through his hair.

“I am…deeply sorry, Roy Harper,” she says and Roy jerks, stares blankly up at her with worry in his heart as he grabs her shoulder because she’s crumbling a little at the edges now too.

“Don’t be sorry. Why are you sorry? There’s nothing to be sorry for. Hey, you guys, what…c’mon if I’m dead, like, whatever ok? I like you even if you’re fake versions of them, I promise.” He says frantically. Jason shifts, peers at him with confusion and suspicion, chokes down what might be a sob or a laugh and holds Roy tighter.

“You’re not dead dumbass.” Jason breathes into his ear. Kory nods encouragingly when he looks at her and his smile is a little shaky when he makes it.

“Well that’s good right? Now there’s even less reason to be sorry.”

“You do not believe us.” Kory says, and no, he doesn’t but…

She grabs his free hand, the one not held in a death grip and basically wrapped around Jason and holds it to her chest, against her heart and he jerks because he can _feel_ it strong and steady but she holds firm and then Jason is doing the same, fingers pressed shakily to his neck and Roy…Roy can’t…

“Roy you are the single most important thing we have and if you _ever_ do this to me again I… I can’t.” Jason sobs into his neck and Kory is gathering the both of them into her arms, moving them like wounded dolls and like they’re the most precious thing as she presses Roy’s head into her chest and Jason curls up against Roy’s stomach and trembles until Roy starts to card his hands through his hair. He’s reveling, quietly in the back of his mind, that he can do this. That _Jason Todd_ is letting him do this and he’s in _Kory’s arms_.

“Your sacrifice is noble,” Kory says quietly into his ear, and something in him eases a bit. He’s glad, at least that she understands, because he doesn’t think he can handle being told he’s not even worth giving his life for. He knows he could never handle hearing that.

“Roy listen to me,” Kory says, voice firm. “Your sacrifice is noble. You have always been a true friend. You always will be. However,” she pauses and tightens her hold. It doesn’t hurt, he just feels warm, and then his head is being tilted up and she’s kissing him and pouring her heart out and he shakes and feels something in him come undone, unwound just a bit. “We will never accept that.”

“But,”

“You _must live_ , Roy. Alongside us. Don’t you know that you, more than anything, are why we are here?” She asks, a tiny smile on her face. He opens his mouth, but Jason’s right there and kissing him quiet, gentle like he’s glass, hard like he’s the only thing Jason needs to breathe and Roy just… He just…

“Shut up, idiot.” Jason whispers, running hands up and down his sides like he can’t quite believe Roy is there either. “Damn it, Roy. I know I don’t – I can’t _say_ shit like this. But – but I _love you_ okay? How am I supposed to fight, to do anything, if you’re not here with us, huh?”

“Who will ground him when his anger leads him astray? Who will speak to me when I allow my own anger control?” Kory adds, running a fond hand down Jason’s arm before linking her fingers with his. “You are our voice of reason.”

“Then you guys are so screwed,” Roy says numbly, and he hates that his voice sounds watery, shaky now when he finally feels warm for the first time. Jason snorts and Kory laughs and Roy feels like…. He feels like…

“Like we didn’t already know that,” Jason mutters.

“Your efforts were not in vain, Roy. That machine was destroyed,” Kory added and Jason grinned, a little reckless and a little crooked, and wholly vindictive.

“There are better ways to motivate us, by the way.” His eyes sharpen, a lethal blade cutting straight to Roy’s soul. “So don’t you ever do that again.” Roy nods slowly, entirely serious and a little uneasy (he’s not frightened, because Jason has never scared him when he’s making threats to others, it’s only when he’s making threats to himself.)

“I’m sorry.” Roy says, because he’s pretty sure he should. The arms around him tighten and he always knew that it would scare them but he never _knew it would scare them_. “I’m so sorry.”

“You and Jason both must still heal. Now that you are awake, he will sleep easier.” Kory says, and it sounds as much of an assurance for Roy as it does a threat to Jason so he laughs, a little more honest than he’s been able to in the past and leans back fully into Kory, arms firm around Jason’s waist.

He feels like he’s home.


End file.
